Apparatus for handling freight



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ldeid@ FFCE PATENT RENEW E. i, @E GREENWCH, CONNEGTICUT.

e; isomers ramona.

application flied lentemher 36, 192e. Serial No. 'MOJBL The employment of removable automobile bodies as containers for package freight permits the utilization of buildings, for storage and for rehandling for distribution, in local ities where the expense oi rail-track termiu nais would be prohibitive Temporary storage of containers in suelo ortraels buildings relieves the rail head terminal and also reduces the consignees charges over those necessary in the usual system or breaking bulk and warehouse storin. 'Eo obtain the most advantageous locations for container storage at reasonable expense, it is frequently desirable to use facilities aorded by existing buildings, but the overall clearance loetween the door and ceiling in many of these buildings precludes the use of individual crane traclrways for handling heavy loaded bodies.

@ne oi the objects ot my invention therefore, is the provision oi means for equipping buildings, particularly those having low clearance between the door and ceiling, for storing removable automobile bodies, either while loaded or unloaded, and for enabling such bodies or containers to be shifted about in an expeditious manner to facilitate the moi/'ement oi motor trucks whieh are ern played for transporting containers to and from the building'. 'En 'this connection, my invention contemplates au arrangement of apparatus which will minimize the necessity for expensive hoisting apparatus and elevator equipment.

i carry out the above ol'ofieots by arranging a 'truck passageway into the building, 'providing an overhead trae'lrway `im supporting a traveling crane which is adapted to raise and transport removable automobile bodies or containers, and employing carriages which are adapted tov travel beneath the traclrway and are arranged to support a container independently or the orarie. These carriages are positioned at the level oi the eorresponding door in the bailding, wherefore a. container may be readily transferred to a storage lane leading "romthe hoisting well.

@ne form ot arrangement iior carrying out my invention is hereinafter more fully set forth in the -following description, whic relates to the accomnanying drawings, while the essential features are summarized in the clairne.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly broken away of a warehouse wherein the lower two fioors are equipped with my apparatus for container storage purposes; Fig?. 2 is a similar side elevation of a portion oi a two-storv building embodying my invention of hoisting and transporting apparatas; Fig. 3 is an end elevation (with the wall and doors removed) of the building illustrated in Fig. 2; Fig. e is a sectional plan through one corner of the building taken on the line 4 4 in Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a floor roller which may be used in carrying out my invention; 6 is a section of such floor roller taken on the line 6-6 in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a bottom plan of the container.

In Figs. 1 and 2, have shown a building 10 having at least two floors 11 and 12 respectively for removable automobile body storage purposes., Within the building, preferably at one end thereof, l provide truck entrance bays 13, into which trucks with their bodies may be backed, as shown in Fig. 1. Suitable doors (not shown) may close the idle bays. A hoisting well extends above the truck bays for enabling a crane. indicated generally at lll, to raise a body 'from a motor truck positioned in any hay.

The crane is adapted to travel on the trackways and i6 which are shown as supported by columns 17 and 18 respectively. This crane however, is mounted suiiiciently above the well to permit a body to be raised to the height of at least the second door, and one crane may function to permit the handling of containers for the entire buildmg.

To :facilitate the transfer of containers suspended from the crane 14, to the lrst loor, without necessitating the use of additional cranes extending at right angles to the erano 14, ll have shown a carriage indicated at 20 which travels on tracks 21 and 22 respectively. The track 21 as illustrated, may be disposed beneath the level of the truck rurrway so as to permit trucks to enter the runway readily. The track 22 may be supported in any convenient position, and for this purpose I have illustrated brackets 23 on the columns 18. The carriage 2O is arranged to be moved lengthwise of the hoisting well. Thus a container may be raised by the crane from a truck body, then lil iifl

transported, and deposited upon can riego. The door of the carriage is in the same plane as the surface oi the door il, wherefore a container can be readily moved from the carriage to the door for stornge purposes.,

To facilitate the transference ci contain ers which are supported by the crane to the second door of the building, Tl have shown a carriage which may be mounted on tracks 3l and 32. These traclrs also entend longitudinally of the hoisting well and are so positioned that the top surface oi" the carriage lies in the same piane as the surface oi the :door lil., The carriages' El@ and id@ may be propelled by hand., or by any suitable mechanical power along their respec tive traclrvvays.

'lo facilitate the trans-fer oi containers between the carriages and the respective lioors, l prefer to employ rollers itl which are rotatably mount/ed on the carrieres and iioors respectively. the prererrcf orrn, these rollers are disposed beneath the surface oit the container support so that only a small portion of the tread projects thereabove. Moreover, these rollers preferably entend in parallel rows and in pairs so as to provide parallel lanes along which the containers inar be moved Within the building.

lieferring to l igs. 5 and d, ll have shown each Wheel as a crowned or convert tace di, the edges o' which are nearly tangent to the door Stine, as shown .in liigs. 5 and 6. Each Wheel may be journaled on a shaft i2 on a roller bea shari, may be su foren, the casing hush with the top or the no A to be secured thereto by screws do. rihus only small part o'i the 'wvheei projects above the surface of the door, thereby reducing the reonired overall clearance between the :door l 'ling to a The container which. is usually a ricated structure having a metal iloor frame is provided on its under side adjacent the edges with longitudinal bars 53, troughed or concaved on their undersides shorm in Fig. d Suc-h container therefore may be readily guided by the rollers; the rollers howerer do not present any troublesome obstruction ifor hand trucking in spaces unoccupied by containers, nor do they injure the rubber tires oi hand trucks. The dat portions o the container iioor bars at the sides ci they concavities :form a proper surface for supporting the container in an ordinary floor or support.

The movement of a container along a wheeled lane may be effected either by hand or by mechanical means, such as a portable industrial truck.7 Such a truck is also nsotul in shifting the carriage and the traveling crane by moving transversely of the building adjacent the crane Well and drawing the carriage or crane by means of a rope leading diagonally thereto.

Assuming that a truck has a removable body or container 52 positioned thereon and that the container is to be transported to the iii-st irloor of the building, then the crane is stopped above the truck and. the cables are brought into engagement with the container. Thereupon the container is lifted from the truck and transported laterally, and then deposited on the rollers 40 of the carriage 20, from which it is rolled by hand or by any suitable mechanical power along the lane, before which the carriage is stationed. The container is guided during such moi/erneut by the conveiiity of the Wheels. The reverse procedure may be employed for transferring a container from any lane on the rst door to a truck standing in the runway.

To transfer a container from a truck to a higher door, the container is merely raised and the carriage is run laterally beneath it, or the container is transported and deposited upon the carriage 30. 'lhen While the container is being moved from the carriage to a lane in the second floor, the crane may be shifted to transfer another container to or trom atruclr.

A particular advantage of my invention is the tact that trucks may enter a building during the loading and unloading operation, thus leaving the space outside the building clear for vehicular trafiic and obviatng the necessity for columns outside the building to support the crane trackway. A number oi trucks may be backed into the. building and receive or discharge their load in quick succession Without waiting' for the bodies to be placed in their final position on the iioors. lf desired, a number of carriages may be mounted on each carriage trackway, wherefore the crane may be kept in use for loading and unloading purposes. This facilitates the movement of the trucks between the stations.

ln the ordinary operation of a storage building equipped with my transfer platform and lanes of rollers as described, care is taken to store adjacent the far ends of the lanes those containers which will probably remain longest in storage and thus reduce the amount of internal shitting to remove a stored container from the buildinn'. By leaving a lane normally unoccupied, or unoccupied space at the front of several lanes, it is a simple matter when any container is called for to run those in front. thereof one after another onto the platform and transfer it to such idle lane or space until the deferred container is reached. ln View ot the tact that containers may remain where spotted i'or days at a time, the time lost in this interna). shifting is a minor matter compared iis ' 'il L.;

`die Hoor projecting upwardly above die isop surface 'liereoi the removable body having two tread members of inverted trough shape in its base adapted fao regis'fer mtb snob rovvs.

l2. in conibination7 e. build floory parallel rows of r A A ed in lie door, e removeb i 'on mie body having downwardly feci' ironggli boro in irs bese which may coec vri. li rollers,

i3. llbe combinefion of e building havin-gg lanes of rollers in iis floor, the rollers pro-1 jieceing slightly above faire floor enr'laoe,

means for 'raising e reinoveble aeromobile fece, a lioisbing mechanism adapted to raise a removable automobile body;Y from belovv the plane of the oor into a position above sucli plaine, and e movable platform adapted to supporttbe body in position to be moved on seid rollers.

lbe combination of e building having en elevated *floor and e Well et the end of the floor, e. platform, tracks supporting the pla- 'form in such manner that it is movable along: falle end of the floor, a hoisting mechanism :ideped to raise :i renlovable automobile body from below "alle ioor into position ebove lie platform and rollers mounted in Hoor and projecting slightly above the seme and adapted to receive a body directly from libe plaform.

in esiimony whereof, hereunto alix my signature.

BENJAMN F. FETCH., 

